Gene Simmons Saved Ace Frehley from Drowning

 

Sean Patrick Doole/www.gibson.com

Bass player, singer-songwriter, fire-breather, blood-spewer, entrepreneur… you can now add certified lifeguard to the many titles held by the inimitable Gene Simmons of KISS. In a recent interview with Eddie Trunk and Don Jamieson on VH1’s That Metal Show, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley told the story of how Gene saved him from drowning in a hotel pool.

“I didn’t know Gene was a lifeguard,” Frehley said. “I actually drowned one day at a Holiday Inn. [laughs] I’m serious … this was in the ’70s. I actually drowned. Everyone else was [expletive] up, I was [expletive] up obviously, but everyone else was loaded, and I went under… the next thing you know, I’m drowning. Gene pulls me out of the pool and pumps the water out of me.”

The Space Ace went on to say, “Only later I found out that he was a certified lifeguard when he used to go to college.” No word on whether the heroic Demon’s mammoth mouth muscle assisted in the rescue.